MISSOURI: Wormed? Check. Flea collar? Check. Neutered? Check. Canine testicular implants? Erm, check.
Neutering can be a difficult process for both dog and owner to undergo. While it is an essential step for many pets to enjoy a happy stress-free life with their families, the guilt pet owners can feel over the pain and disfigurement such a procedure may cause can leave owners wondering whether they did they right thing.
And with the debate over whether animals owners should be forced to neuter their pets heating up, the issue is only going to become more pressing.
Perhaps surprisingly, owners of male dogs can now give their furry friends the next-best thing. More and more dog owners are turning to testicular implants, or 'neuticals', to assuage their guilt and give their dog 'replacements' that look and feel like the real thing.
According to newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, neuticals are said to boost your dog's self-esteem by replacing what it lost. Perhaps less surprisingly, it's a procedure that's becoming increasingly popular in New York.
Neuticals are available in several different alternatives; polypropylene at $119 a pair and solid silicone at $249 per pair. A liquid-filled "ultra-plus'' model with lifelike veins will set you back $889, according to The State. Sizes range in size from petite to XX-large.
"We did it so Truman could still walk proudly down the street,'' Penny Glazier, a Manhattan restaurateur, told the SMH of her 8-year-old bull mastiff. "We felt it would be good for him psychologically.''
Far from being an uncommon procedure, nearly 250,000 pet owners have given Fido back a little of his pride since Missouri inventor Glenn A. Miller introduced them in 1995.
Miller said the idea had been slow to catch on, but claimed that pets had since been “neuticled” in 49 countries. The procedure is performed mostly on dogs, but owners have had it done for cats, bulls, horses, monkeys — even an elephant, according to The State.
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“It’s really a cosmetic thing. Dogs do just fine without their testicles.” Dr. Richard Green
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“People like their male dogs to look natural,” Miller said. “Neuticles are strictly cosmetic. But it encourages owners who are hesitant about neutering their pets to do it, and that helps reduce pet overpopulation.”
According to Wikipedia, Miller came up with the neuticle concept in 1993 when his Bloodhound, Buck, disappeared. The dog was found days later more than 20 miles away, after apparently picking up the scent of a female dog in heat.
"It was either neuter Buck or go through the nightmare of him taking off again and the next time I most likely wouldn't find him," Miller said.
Despite the inevitable smirks whenever the issue is raised amongst pet owners, Miller told globeandmail.com that the issue was no laughing matter. Miller recollected that the castration of his own dog was traumatic. "God, it was horrible," he said.
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“The procedure is performed mostly on dogs, but owners have had it done for cats, bulls, horses, monkeys — even an elephant.”
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Vets are divided over the value of the procedure. “It is mostly men who inquire about it,” Miller-Clark Animal Center vet Dr. Gina Antiaris told The State. “I’ve done (the operation) before, but we don’t do it here. It’s sort of unnecessary."
“It’s really a cosmetic thing,” said Dr. Richard Green, who has performed it several times. “Dogs do just fine without their testicles.”
Miller told globeandmail it was a serious issue. "You know that a dog would know if their foot was cut off," he says, so why would a dog miss any other part of its body any less?
However, he added that not all pet owners take it all as seriously as he does, admitting that dog owners call "all the time" wanting to replace their pets' 'assets' with something 'more impressive'.
Neuticals? Can't say I know anybody's dog who's had them. It sure is the very first time I heard of 'em! I wonder though- do dogs with testicular implants REALLY have increased self-esteem and self-worth? I'm a dog person myself, and I have had my dogs neutered- but they all seem perfectly alright- haha as far as I can tell anyway.
Thats right listen to the good doctor. Dogs do just fine without their testicles =)
First it was beer, then ice cream, then hotels for dogs- and now, they have neuticles! Haha whatever will they think of next?
Oh for heaven's sake, when will guys (and I can guarantee there are more men considered about the little pouch on the backside of their male dog, then woman are)get a grip and realize that dogs don't treasure them as much as you do. My guy has his little pouch left, though it's empty, and as long as I love him, feed him and play with him, I really don't believe he misses anything. He's even lost his lower teeth back past his canines because of cancer, and by george he still can scarf food down with the best of them.
Are you willing to start paying child support for the puppy's your unneutered male helps produce?
Way to go, Sally! You tell em! Hahaha Sorry boys, yes, I must agree that dogs may not be as fixated with them as you may think.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first -erm- bionic balls? LOL
LOL You said it, Sally! boys really are much more concerned about dog's hanging pouches than the dogs are! Haha! dog's would not be less of a dog, unlike men who would rather die than lose it! LOL! My friend's got a neutered black lab and he seems to be doing fine. doesn't seem like he misses it!
lol! the comments here are funneee! seems like the girls are ganging up on men! but it's true. i have to agree. men seem more concerned about those pouches than the animals are!
i've a pet cat. i had him neutered and it never crossed my mind to buy him neuticles!! lol! since he got neutered, he became sweeter. and he doesn't even care that it was gone!! my hubby looks at him in a strange way, tho. he feels that the cat is half a man-cat, if you know what i mean! LOL
Whoa! Ladies.. ladies.. calm down! Don't hate us. lol. Hey doc green if you read this, do you know anything about neuticals for.. erm.. humans? lol!
Ha! I don't know about you but mine aren't really cosmetic things and I wont "do just fine" without them lol! If I were a dog I'd bite your hand off before you could even lay a hand on them. Happy Independence Day everyone!
Same here dude. lol!
i've had dogs all my life and although it's inhumane to neuter dogs, i feel sometimes that it's necessary because they also get crazy especially when they catch a scent of a female dog in heat. they get so worked up and stressed. i've had some dogs already neutered and i can see that they are more happy with it.
Haha! I agree, man. Jewels are jewels and they are not meant to be taken. lol
lol though dogs don't notice it's gone, it is not aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, especially for us males. incomplete to have a weapon without its bullet storage right? lol dogs are part of the family. so are jewels. famlily jewels should stick together. lol
Boys will be boys. :) they tend to extend their masculinity to their male dogs. for us girls, losing those so called jewels are not much of a big deal. what's good for the pet is the best option a responsible owner should take. Neuticles? lol! what a funny way to cover up the 'guilt'.
as inhumane as it may sound, it is a necessary procedure because there are just too many dogs in shelters and a lot of them are just being put to sleep because of overpopulation.
the question here is, is the procedure really for the dog or the owner? let's just admit the fact that if we take in an animal as a pet, we make the decisions for him.
This is the second time that I've read this story, simply because it's really interesting. All I want to say is that dogs (just like us, humans) deserve to have the 'real' thing.